Antibiotic Resistance of Gram Negatives isolates from loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the central Mediterranean Sea

6533b7d8fe1ef96bd126af80

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Antibiotic Resistance of Gram Negatives isolates from loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the central Mediterranean Sea

Teresa Bottari Vittorio Fisichella D. Rinaldo Caterina Mammina C. Giacopello Maria Foti

subject

Antibiotic resistance Aquatic Science Biology Settore MED/42 - Igiene Generale E Applicata Oceanography Providencia Loggerhead sea turtle Microbiology Cloacal bacteria Antibiotic resistance Morganella Drug Resistance Multiple Bacterial Gram-Negative Bacteria Mediterranean Sea medicine Animals Antibiotic resistance; Antimicrobials; Loggerhead sea turtle; Caretta caretta; Cloacal bacteria; Mediterranean sea Citrobacter MDR Gram negatives Caretta caretta antibiotic resistance Caretta caretta Antimicrobials Providencia rettgeri Carbenicillin biology.organism_classification Pollution Anti-Bacterial Agents Turtles Citrobacter freundii Loggerhead sea turtle bacteria human activities Water Pollutants Chemical Environmental Monitoring medicine.drug

description

Previous studies on fish and marine mammals support the hypothesis that marine species harbor antibiotic resistance and therefore may serve as reservoirs for anti biotic-resistance genetic determinants. The aim of this study was to assess the resistance to antimicrobial agents of Gram negative strains isolated from loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta). Oral and cloacal swabs from 19 live-stranded loggerhead sea turtles, with hooks fixed into the gut, were analyzed. The antimicrobial resistance of the isolates to 31 antibiotics was assessed using the disk-diffusion method. Conventional biochemical tests identified Citrobacter spp., Proteus spp., Enterobacter spp., Escherichia spp., Providencia spp., Morganella spp., Pantoea spp., Pseudomonas spp. and Shewanella spp. Highest prevalences of resistance was detected to carbenicillin (100%), cephalothin (92.6%), oxytetracycline (81.3%) and amoxicillin (77.8%). The isolates showing resistance to the widest range of antibiotics were identified as Citrobacter freundii, Proteus vulgaris, Providencia rettgeri and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In this study, antibiotic resistant bacteria reflect marine contamination by polluted effluents and C. caretta is considered a bioindicator which can be used as a monitor for pollution.

year	journal	country	edition	language
2009-01-01	Marine Pollution Bulletin

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.04.020